


Kindness Isn’t Weakness, Asshole

by Mythweaver101



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor Just Wants To Help, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Found Family, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, as i think of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2019-12-30 05:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18309002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythweaver101/pseuds/Mythweaver101
Summary: Connor wants to help, Hank didn’t sign up for this, and Gavin just wants to be left alone.AKA Series of (hopefully) connected one-shot, one-word prompts about Connor, Hank, and Gavin slowly helping each other to heal and grow (whether they like it or not) and possibly even become family.





	1. Behind Locked Flies- Prompt: Lock

**November 1, 2039**

**8:30 p.m.**

**Hank Anderson’s house**

Detective Gavin Reed was a man that lived behind metaphorical locks. Locks with the most impossible encryption and harmful consequences if opened wrong. The probability of having the man open up willingly without him exploding in anger was very slim.

 Connor could contest to this. He had first-hand experience on what happened when one tried to get too deep into Gavin Reed’s life without permission.

Which is why he was sitting on Hank’s couch holding a washcloth to his nose. Thirium seeped into the cloth as he waited for his healing program to stop the bleeding.

Hank shuffled in from the kitchen, holding a beer, and dropped down in the armchair beside the couch with a groan. He stared at Connor for a minute, slowly petting Sumo when the St. Bernard plopped his head on the man’s lap.

 “So, that could have gone smoother.” Hank finally said.

 Connor sighed, his voice muffled by the cloth in front of his face. “Yes, I suppose I should have expected that.”

 Hank snorted, “You’re lucky Reed didn’t pull his gun on you and only gave you the bloody nose.”

 Conner pulled the washcloth away from said injure as it finished healing, his LED turning yellow. He twisted the cloth in his hands as he stared into the distance.

 Hank sighed, leaning forward, “Conner, why were you even diggin’ through his files? Why Reed of all people?”

 Connor shrugged, not making eye contact with Hank. “I don’t know. I guess I find him… intriguing.”

 Hank raised an eyebrow, “Reed? Intriguing? Are we talking about the same person here? The only thing ‘intriguing’ about that ass is how he’s still alive with how much he runs his mouth.”

 “But he is Hank,” Connor insisted. “I am designed to work harmoniously by studying people and adapting to their needs. But Detective Reed…it seems that whatever I do I can’t understand him! He is a walking contradiction.”

 Connor turned to face Hank, a confused frown pulling down the corners his mouth. “He is often rude or outright confrontational. But when he talks to witnesses or victims he is caring and gentle. He often will take on other officers’ shifts if they have emergencies or so they have time to spend with their families, even if he seems to do so begrudgingly. And he works on cases till he solves them- even at the detriment of his own health.”

 Just in the last week, Reed had stayed awake for almost a whole week to solve a case of a double homicide. The only reason anyone really found out was because the man had almost fallen off one of the break room’s stools trying to reach for the extra coffee in the top cabinet but then got dizzy from lack of sleep and food. If Connor had not entered when he did and was able to catch him, the detective would probably have a concussion.

 Hank leaned back in the armchair with a sigh, “Okay so he’s good at his job. Great. But that doesn't explain why you were digging in his files. And tell me the truth. None of that bullshit that you feed to Fowler.”

 Connor’s LED flashed red for a second before cycling back into blue. “What I told Captain Fowler was the truth, Hank. I was looking in past files for a repeating pattern.”

 “Right. And I’m the Queen of Sheba.” Hank took a drink. “Fine, what was this ‘repeating pattern’ you were looking for then?”

 “I was trying to find what kind of partners that Reed usually worked well with. What personality traits or abilities that he seems to prefer in a working relationship.” Connor replied.

 “Why the hell would you need to know that?” Hank’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Not like you’ll ever have to work with him as a partner.”

 “Because, I seem to be able to get along with almost everyone but Detective Reed. And it…” Connor trailed off, unable to find the words that described what he was feeling. It was like a weight sitting heavily in the middle of his chest, so similar to how he felt when he thought back to when he first became partners with Hank and how the Lieutenant had hated Connor and all androids. It was…

 “It makes me feel frustrated and sad.” Connor sighed.

 Hank studied Connor as the android started to pet Sumo, who had abandoned Hank after the man had stopped petting him. Connor seemed to curl into himself, shoulders hunched and LED slowly circling between yellow and red. Hank sighed, running a hand down his face.

 “Well, seeing as you weren’t able to get into the files before you got caught, how about I give you some advice. As someone that use to be an old partner of Reed’s.”

 Connor’s head popped up, eyes wide, “You use to be Dectitive Reed’s partner? When?”

 Hank chuckled at the android’s surprise. “It was way back when I was still a vice dectictive. I moved to homicide after…,” his voice faltered for a second before he pushed on. “After Cole was born. It had more fixed hours. Not as dangerous.”

 Hank took a long drag from his beer. Connor scooted closer, trying to offer his silent support. The corners of Hank’s mouth lifted, “But yeah. I use to be Reed’s partner.”

 “What was he like? Did you get along?” Connor asked, scooting even closer, almost on the edge of the couch. Sumo huffed at once again being ignored, wandering away to plop dramatically into his dog bed.

 “He was just much as a stubborn ass as he is now. Like you said- rude and likes to pick fights. But he was good at his job. Now as to if we got along…” Hank trailed off, seeming to collect his thoughts. “We got along pretty good actual. Sure, we cursed each other out a few times, but what partners haven’t? Had him over for supper a few times with the family. But I transferred to homicide and kind of lost track of him for a bit.” Hank shrugged, “Next time I see him, he also in homicide and he’s got all these new scars. I tried to talk to him- old partners and shit like that- but he told me to fuck off and to leave him alone. Then the accident happened… and I didn’t care about much of anything. Never mind trying to reconnect with someone who didn’t want anything to do with me to begin with.”

 “What about now?” Connor asked.

 “What do you mean?”

 “Would you like to try and reconnect with Reed now?”

 Hank snorted, “Connor, I don't think Reed wants anything to do with me.”

 “But I didn’t ask what he wanted. I asked what you wanted.” Connor smiled, looking all to pleased with himself.

 Hank rolled his eyes and finished off his beer, “I think I want to go to bed and not be interrogated by you.”

 Hank tossed the now empty bottle into the trash and made his way to his bedroom. Just as he was about to disappear down the hallway, Hank paused and looked back at Connor. The android was playing with his coin, staring into the distance, a sharp frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. If Hank didn’t know any better, he would say that Connor was pouting. Hank shuffled into his bedroom and started to change clothes. As he pulled on a shirt his arm hit the wall, knocking down one of the few pictures that were still hanging. Hank cursed under his breath as he bent to pick it up. He moved to toss it on the nightstand to worry about in the morning, but stopped- something about catching his eye.

 It was a candid photo of the break room at the DPD vice department. The room was crowded with police officers in and out of uniform. Everyone was laughing, smiling; holding drinks and food. A white, handwritten banner hung crookedly above everyone’s heads, proclaiming ‘Congratulations on the Big Bust!’ in bright red. But the two figures at the center of all the chaos were what really caught Hank’s attention. It was a younger Hank and Gavin laughing, each with matching party hats perched on their heads and their arms around each other's shoulders as they toasted towards the camera with their drinks.

 Hank stared at the picture- the bright smiles and the easy friendship.

 “I am gong to regret this.” He sighed.

 And walked back into the living room, where Connor was still flicking his quarter around in thought.

 “Fine.” Hank said. Connor turned, catching the coin, a questioning look on his face.

 “Fine.” Hank repeated, sitting down beside Connor on the couch. “I want to try and reconnect with Reed.” Hank pointed at the now beaming android, “But if anyone ask- this was all your idea.”

 Connor smiled even wider and Hank couldn't help the small smile that he gave in return.

 “Of course, Hank.” Connor replied, leaning forwarded. A look of calm intensity quickly replaced the smile as Connor shifted into what Hank liked to call Connor’s ‘interrogation mode’, “What can you tell me about Gavin Reed?”


	2. Open Nerves- Prompt: Paper Cut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina and Gavin have a talk.

**November 1, 2039**

**9:00 p.m.**

**Gavin Reed’s apartment**

 Gavin Reed- detective and infamous asshole- would deny that he whined as Tina Chen all but dropped a baggie full of ice onto his swollen hand.

 “Shit, a little warning next time!” Gavin hissed, balancing the bag on the dull ache in his knuckles. They were bright red and starting to bruise in the center. He was sure by tomorrow they would be a mosaic of deep blues and dark purples.

 “Aww, did I hurt your hand?” Tina mocked, sitting down crossed legged beside him on his old couch. She offered one of the two glasses of whiskey she carried to him with a raised eyebrow. Gavin hesitated but took it, downing it in one gulp. He flinched at the burn, putting the empty glass on the low coffee table in front of them.

 Tina took a sip from her own drink before continuing, “So…what the hell, Gavin?”

 “What?” Gavin asked as Absolute Unit- his huge Main Coon cat- climbed into his lap.

 “Don’t you ‘what’ me, Gavin Reed.” Tina replied in a mocking stern voice as she reached over and pulled Unit into her own lap. The cat went willingly, only a little ‘mrph’ of complaint as she resettled. Gavin glared at the two as Tina begin to pet the fluffy monster but made no move to reclaim his pet.

 “Gav, come on- what happened? One moment it looks like you might actual have a civil conversation with Connor. Next you’re decking him in the face.” Tina asked, the mocking gone from her voice and a concerned frown pulling down the corners of her mouth.

 Gavin tensed but then rolled his eyes, “What? Just because I don’t worship the ground that the plastic prick walks on doesn’t mean I can’t be fucking civil when I need to be.”

 “Says the man that then decked him in the face.”

 Gavin groaned, leaning his head onto the back of the couch, “Come on, T. I already had Fowler on my ass- I don’t need you, too.”

 Tina stared at him, waiting.

 Gavin debated if it would be worth getting up to get his cigarettes from the kitchen and escape to his balcony.

 Not worth it, he decided. Tina would just follow him, harping the whole time.

 “It’s nothin’ T. Don’t worry about it.”

 “Nope,” Tina replied, popping the ‘p’ loudly. “Come on, Gav! Tell me.”

 “Don't you have a girlfriend to annoy?” Gavin deflected. He grimaced as the bag of ice dripped cold water down his arm, soaking the sleeve of his shirt.

 “Sara has the night shift this week.” Tina replied, still stroking the purring cat in her lap like some kind of Bond villain.

 “So? Go home anyway.”

 “Gavin.”

 Gavin knew that tone of voice. It was the voice that Tina used when she had enough of his bullshit. And as often as he bullshitted his way through life, he knew that voice well. He sighed and turned to face her.

 “Fuck- fine. The prick was looking at my case files.”

 Tina raised an eyebrow, “Okay, so what? He probably needed them for one of his cases.”

 “You don’t get it,” Gavin growled. “The tin can had files from years ago! And not just major cases- ‘saving-cats-from-trees’ kind of cases, too!”

 Tina’s cat petting slowed as she considered this. Absolute Unit rolled over onto her back and patted at the women’s hand in annoyance. Tina resumed her petting.

 “Okay, yeah- that’s a little weird. Connor say why he had them?”

 Gavin looked away, avoiding eye contact.

 Tina sighed, “Let me guess- you didn’t ask.”

 No he hadn’t asked the tin can why he had his files. All he had known was that the android had _his files_ -

  _The Files._

 Sitting there deceptively innocent on the top of the tower of other files on Connor’s desk. Gavin would have recognized them anywhere- the Detroit vice department’s logo stamped on the front and his messy scrawl visible on the papers poking out of the worn folders.

 He had noticed them when he walked up to Connor and Hank’s desks to get a file for his current case. It was a double homicide involving an android, which meant that the damn dynamic duo was also on the case. (The old man and the tincan pretty much only worked on android-involved cases now. According to Fowler, they were the only detectives with any knowledge about androids. So they got called in when androids were involved.)

 Gavin hadn't fucking paused to think or ask any questions- only react. He didn’t remember much between seeing the files and Fowler chewing him out in his office, his knuckles throbbing from were he had drove his fist into Connor’s stupid, tough, doe-eyed face.

 He just remembered feeling as if his whole body was one giant nerve. Like a paper cut- all exposed nerve endings with no blood to provide protection from the sting of the open air.

 Even now, the feeling seeped back over him. It started from his clenched fist and thrummed through his body with every heartbeat. It was like those damn files had followed him home- cutting him open to every ounce of Tina’s damn disappointment.

 “Why the fuck does it matter, Tina?” Gavin muttered, thinking again of his cigarettes sitting in the kitchen.

 He wanted this conversation to be over. He wanted to go out on his balcony and chain smoke the entire pack. He wanted to curl up in bed with Unit and forget that the world existed. He wanted to go back in time before those case files even existence- when life had been simpler.

When androids were only androids- didn’t have ‘feelings’ and weren't ‘alive’. When they didn’t threaten his damn job. When Hank-

 “Gavin, man, he just wants to do his job!” Tina huffed, putting her half-drunk drink on the coffee table next to his, turning to face him.

 Absolute Unit growled as her comfy seat moved without her permission. The cat staked to the open cushion between the two, kneading it. She seemed unaware of the growing tension between the two humans.

 “What ya’ want me to do, Tina? Bow down and kiss his fucking boots?” Gavin growled, tossing the half-melted bag of ice between the two glass with a wet plop. The glasses wobbled, almost tipping over before settling back into place.

 Tina frowned, “No. But you don’t have to treat him like he’s a threat-”

 “Like hell he isn’t, T!” Gavin said, jumping off the couch, unable to sit still a moment longer. He started to pace back and forth in the space between the coffee table and his TV. “He can do what you and me can do in half the time! You don’t see that as threatening?”

 “I mean... no.” Tina sighed, leaning her head onto the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling as if praying for patience. “Gavin, Connor’s a prototype. One of a kind. There's no other androids like him. Pretty sure we’re safe from a army of Connors coming to take our jobs.”

 “How do you know?” Gavin asked, gesturing widely. “There could be whole warehouses full of the RoboCop.”

 Tina lifted her head, watching him pace. “Because I asked him. You know, like a normal person.”

 Gavin scoffed but made no other reply. Tina watched him pace for a little longer. “Gavin, its been a year since the revolution happened. Don't you think it’s time to…I don't know... move on?”

 Gavin stopped mid-step.

 Move on? Like the whole world hadn’t turned on its head and everyone was acting like it was fine?

 Move on while the plastic prick went digging into his past?

 A past that Gavin never wanted to talk about or anyone to know.

 Tina was still talking. “- And I know you don’t like talking about how you feel- like I get it- but I’ve heard great things about this one guy. He specializes in working with police officers. I heard that Chris went and-”

 “You want me to go to a therapist?” Gavin could fell the metaphorical paper cuts slicing deeper, closer to his heart.

 Tina didn’t seem to notice his sudden stillness.

 “Yeah. I have his phone number if ya’ want-”

 Gavin kicked the coffee table. His angry, frustration, fear, and every other emotion at their boiling points. “Fuck no, Tina! I’m not going to some shrink! Shut the fuck up!”

 The glasses on the table tipped over at the sudden force. The whiskey still in Tina’s glass spread out over the table and dripped down onto the carpet. The soft sound of the liquid running off the table was the only noise in the sudden silence of the apartment.

 Tina's eyes narrowed. She looked from Gavin (whole body tense, like a spring wound too tight) to the spilled glass. She seemed to come to a decision.

 “Gavin.” Tina stood; her shoulders back, head held high, and arms held loose at her sides. Gavin recognized the body language- it was her hard-ass police stance. “You’re my friend. We’ve been through a lot of shit together. I’ve put up with a lot of your shit and you’ve put up a lot of mine. But this-” She gestured vaguely at him. “This weird hang-up you have about Connor and androids… I… I can’t stand by and watch as you bully them.”

 “Fuck off, Chen!” Gavin shouted. “Go sing ‘Kumbaya’ and braid the tincan’s hair if ya’ love him so much!”

 “Fuck you too, Reed!” Tina marched to the front door, swiping her coat from the coat rack. She turned on her heel, glaring at him.”We’re the police, Gavin! We protect and serve everyone- no matter what!” and slammed the door behind her.

 Gavin stared at the closed door, breathing hard. He then stomped into the kitchen, grabbing his cigarettes off the kitchen table. He flung the glass doors to the balcony open, tracks squealing in protest at the mistreatment.

 He pulled a cigarette from the pack and stuck it in his mouth, fumbling around in his pants pocket for his lighter. He pulled it out, grimacing as he scraped his knuckles doing so. The detective lit the cigarette, took a long drag, and then let it out, watching the smoke curl away into the night.

 Absolute Unit came out onto the balcony, meowing and weaving between his ankles.

 “I’m fine, Unit. I’m fine.” Gavin whispered, staring out into the middle distance. “I’m fine… Who needs her anyway? Fuck Tina… Fuck Hank. Fuck Connor. And fuck androids.”

 His voice broke on the last few words.

 Unit’s meowing become louder and more insistent. Gavin sighed but put his cigarette down in the ashtray, picking her up. He hugged the cat tight to his chest, burying his face into her fur.

 And if his shoulders shook and Unit’s fur become damp as she rubbed against his face… well then who was there to see?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry that this has taken so long. Life got really busy. I graduated from college- a bachelor's degree in English (Yay!), got a job, and got accepted into graduate college for Library Science and Information Studies. 
> 
> But I hope that you guys like this chapter. I found it difficult to write both Tina and Gavin somewhat in character. But seeing as Gavin has no more canon characterization then a bully that doesn't like androids and Tina doesn't even have any speaking lines... I did my best. Also Gavin's opinions on therapist are not mine. If you feel that you need to talk to some one- do so. 
> 
> Thank everyone that left comments and kudos- you guys are amazing! Please if you have any thoughts or opinions on how the story please let me know! 
> 
> Thank you for reading  
> Mythweaver

**Author's Note:**

> So... this idea/plot bunny has been bouncing around in my head for awhile now, demanding to be written. And I also need to practice writing more. So now you all get to read this hopefully connected one-shot story based off of a list of one-word prompts! Also if you guys have any one-word prompts that you would like to see, please send them to me and I'll see if I can work them in! 
> 
> Come and yell at me on tumblr @ [mythweaver](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mythweaver101)
> 
> (P.S. Don't expect quick updates because 1) I am a slow/perfectionist writer and 2) I am in my last semester of college, which takes up a lot of time. But I will try my best!)
> 
> Thanks for reading,  
> Mythweaver


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